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164 INDIA AS DESCRIBED IN EARLY TEXTS
ruling clan. The royal families originated from the reigning kings through succession.
The Khattiyas as a class were expected to be warriors by their training and occupation. They had, theoretically at least, the right to rule, maintaining internal order and peace and protecting their territories against their enemy. But the reigning king was not necessarily a man of the Khattiya family. In the Jatakas we read that where the reigning kings having been considered unworthy of the throne, the people in a body replaced them each by a Brāhmaṇa. In the event of a king's death he was generally succeeded by the Uparājā (viceroy) appointed by him. The Uparājā "might be either the deceased king's younger brother or his eldest son by his chief queen. When, after the death of Mahākamsa of Asitañjana, his elder son, Kamsa, became king, be made his younger brother, Upakamsa, the U parājā. The same thing happened as to Sågara, king of Madhurā, and his younger brother, Upasāgara.? Among the ten sons of Upasāgara and Devagabbhā, one was anointed as king-overlord and the rest were to take up the position of subordinate potentates. As a rule, as pointed out by Fick, the sons of the
1 Jātaka, i, p. 326.
Ibid., iv, p. 79. 3 Ibid., in, p. 81f.
